Reimu Hakurei
Reimu Hakurei is a shrine maiden and player character from Touhou Project and a character in Dimensional Clash IX. While she is cynical, cruel, and loathed by a large number of people, she still wishes for the best of humanity. Appearance Reimu is of moderate height. In PC-98 canon, she is depicted as having purple hair and eyes, and she wears a large red ribbon at the back of her head, and red tubes on her sidelocks. From Story of Eastern Wonderland to Mystic Square she wears an outfit like a traditional shrine maiden uniform, with a red hakama over a white kimono. However, her best known design is that of the Windows era. She has brown-black hair which varies in length and style between games (tending towards long and loose in later works), though she still wears a red ribbon and matching tubes on her sidelocks. She's still seen in her "shrine maiden uniform", but it now bears little in common with the standard uniform beyond the red-and-white colour scheme (which ZUN has acknowledged13). This uniform consists of a red skirt (rather than the standard hakama), a sleeveless red top with a white collar, tied with a yellow ribbon (a red ribbon in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom, a blue one in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Subterranean Animism, Hopeless Masquerade, Urban Legend in Limbo and Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom), and a pair of white detached sleeves which expose her armpits and sarashi. Due to the color scheme, she's occasionally called the "red-white shrine maiden"14. Her shaman clothing and her purification rod came from Rinnosuke Morichika, but it's unknown who designs them. In chapter 7 of Strange and Bright Nature Deity, she used chopsticks with her left hand, and it was stated that she was left-handed (this statement was deleted in the collected edition), but she held a pen with her right hand in Subterranean Animism. It has been speculated by fans that, assuming this wasn't an art error, she may be ambidextrous or just used to writing with her right hand. Equipment & Abilities Abilities *Ability to fly, including in and out of reality *Flight *Aura manipulatoin *Some control over boundaries *Powers as the Hakurei Shrine maiden Possessions *Rod of purificatoin, capable of harming evil *Ying Yang Orbs, which can hurt evil beings. *Ofuda for combat Personality Her personality is straightforward, optimistic, and a bit curious. She's quick to anger if offended, but just as quick to offer help to those in need. According to Komachi, Reimu has an innocent heart that can't truly hate anyone. While rather lazy in her free time, she's highly devoted to her duties as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, resulting in a "shoot first and ask questions later" attitude to youkai extermination. This makes her known to exterminate youkai indiscriminately, regardless of how much of a threat they represent to her or others. One example is Tokiko, who was ambushed by Reimu while she was, in Reimu's own words, "reading and minding her own business". Apparently, however, she actually helps youkai in trouble when it really matters. For instance, in Silent Sinner in Blue, she kept Rei'sen (disguised as an earth youkai-rabbit) at her place to help healing her injuries, giving her the futon she uses to sleep and even going to Eientei to inform its residents that a wounded rabbit was at her shrine. It's been stated that Reimu treats everyone the same, whether they're humans, youkai or gods, giving them no particular respect or disrespect. This habit has caused her to inadvertently befriend many youkai she defeats. While she tries to keep youkai away from her shrine, this is because it makes it harder to do her job rather than because she dislikes them. At the end of the symposium in Symposium of Post-mysticism, when Reimu goes to break it up, Miko notes that though Reimu says she wants to eliminate all the youkai, she actually just wants to attain a peace in Gensokyo that doesn't require violence, like the others present wish. In the clash, Reimu is greedy, cold, cynical, and generaly heartless. She seems to see little wrong in disabling others and causing extreme physical trauma, as long as it follows her morale. In addition, she holds a deep dislike for the youkai, wishing to exterminate all of them and their sympathizers. Despite this, however, she truly is on the side of good, and wishes for the best of humanity. It is possible that Yukari Yakumo is to blame for Reimu's heartless nature, as the former was responsible for raising the latter. Pre-Clash Biography Not much is known about Reimu's history prior to the events of the games. ZUN does mention in one of his Shanghai Alice Correspondence documents that there was a previous Hakurei Shrine Maiden, and it's generally assumed that there's a line of them. In Chapter 25 of Wild and Horned Hermit, with night's darkness fast approaching, an annoyed Reimu remarks, "Believe not they will be around for you always: parents and daylight". The quote was thought to imply that Reimu knew her parents, but they're gone and she's rather bitter about it. However, her line was modified from a haiku about the transient, changing nature of things, the original subjects being parents and money (いつまでも / あると思うな / 親と金). This indicates it was not likely to be a reference to her own parents, after all. Notable Actions Nirn Reimu began the clash by healing Takumi after having been wounded in a fight. Since then, Takumi hired her to help him out when it comes to fending off evil. Later, she would travel with Leo and Looker to help a family into Hammerfell. She helped to fight the slave traders that came to kidnap the family. Later, they hear news about James Claws depopulating the underground base. Sonic, Arkachurus, and more help them as they search for James. After a lengthy battle, Reimu is wounded in the shoulder. However, she could still fight, and ends up defeating the evil within James, saving the day. She and Takumi are later seen retrieving Suika Ibuki, still injured. StarCraft Relationships Marisa Kirisame Reimu's best friend is likely Marisa Kirisame, who spends a lot of her time at the shrine. They're there together the majority of the time in various print works, prologues, and extra stage prologues, hanging out together and discussing or attending the latest events in Gensokyo. Reimu has known Marisa since Story of Eastern Wonderland, where Mima had Marisa fight Reimu. Their friendship may have started soon after that, as in all of the bad endings, Marisa decides she needs to train more, and drags Reimu along to train with her, much to Reimu's chagrin. Yukari Yakumo Despite her antagonistic personality, Yukari Yakumo mentors Reimu by pushing her to increase her spiritual powers, such as learning how to invoke the gods in Silent Sinner in Blue. She also occasionally seeks Reimu's assistance in resolving incidents in Imperishable Night and Subterranean Animism. In the clash, it is implied that an orphaned Reimu was raised by Yukari Yakumo and Suika Ibuki. However, the two's parenting skills were less than abysmal, as Yukari was an abusive and manipulative parent. As such, Reimu greatly loathes Yukari, and both wish to see the other destroyed. In addition, it;s possible that Yukari's upbringing was responsible for Reimu becoming so hateful and heartless in the first place. Takumi Reimu was hired by Takumi to help him along the clash, and aids him in battles. Suika Ibuki Suika Ibuki, who often freeloads her shrine after the events of Immaterial and Missing Power is also is her ally during Subterranean Animism. Reimu saw Suika's presence as a nuisance at first, but never really bothered with driving her away. In the clash, it is implied that an orphaned Reimu was raised by Yukari Yakumo and Suika Ibuki. However, the two'a parenting skills were less than abysmal, as Suika freeloaded off of what little success Reimu would find in her childhood. Despite this, it is suggested that Suika still loves Reimu as an adopted "parent." Trashcanhead Reimu views Trashcanhead as an enemy. The Trashmancer often comes to the defense of the youkai against Reimu's excessive violence to them. As such, the trashcan-wearing godslayer has started a rebellion of fairies in an attempt to end Reimu's life, as well as taking the job into his own hands occasionally. Despite this, however, Reimu doesn't hate Trashcanhead. Thanks to the battles they have had in the past, Reimu sees potential in Trashy as a youkai-hunter thanks to his bizarre properties as a force user, and has actively tried to protect his child indirectly from Yukari's hunger. Trivia *Reimu's theme is Dream Battle. It can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMdGSTE4-Zk Category:Characters Category:Player Characters Category:Newcomers Category:Touhou Project Category:Frogies Category:Humans Category:Neutral Good Category:Shrine maidens Category:Female